Trotro Diaries #1

Life holds some important lessons in the subtlest of situations. Lessons that could easily be overlooked if too much focus is put on the experience instead of the lesson the experience is providing. I witnessed some incidents the past few days on the “trotros” I boarded which upon thinking about later, gave way to some ideas and served as practicals for some theories I had heard.

So here I was, having left the office earlier than I’m used to(obviously because I longed to get home early), the bus took off with me smiling and making plans in my head of how to spend the free time I had before bedtime. Little did I know that the driver’s attitude would cost me about an hour of the free time I was dreaming about. Instead of using the main road, the driver decided to cut corners with the mindset of dodging traffic. One may think he’ll change his direction once the passengers were pleading for him to use the main road, obviously because his shortcut was gonna land us in more traffic than he was envisioning. But being the driver he was, who believed he was right and wouldn’t listen to anyone, he ignored all the pleas and used the supposed shortcut anyways. The long and short of this narrative is that, a journey that could have taken an hour took double, and I so wished I could knock him out so he doesn’t behave so foolhardy and proud next time.

This driver might not have been proud(but I strongly believe he was), but with the way he cocked his head and ignored everyone, he looked so much like the proud peacock, which then brings me to the reason for this narrative. I have noticed that pride has robbed most of us of a wholesome growth. Just because you have a certain status in society, work at a prestigious company or probably are married to the most influential person on earth has potential of standing in the way of your sane development as a person if you indulge pride. Bible admonishes us to be humble and not think too highly of ourselves, but unfortunately the world has taught us to hold our head high and strut with our noses high in the sky because of our achievements. Pride, in whichever form it manifests itself is never a good thing. It’s not for no reason that Solomon mentioned that pride goes before a fall. Being humble doesn’t prevent you from giving off your best, rather it teaches you to give off your best without rubbing it in everyone’s face. Maybe you didn’t mean to be proud, you were just trying to help that young chap out, obviously you had to show off a little right? But if you don’t watch it, that little show off would mature into a full blown ego that would be difficult to penetrate or deflate. And that is when the danger sets in, you become the ‘almighty’ who fears no fall and yet set yourself up for a fall you may be unable to recover from.

I picked some few lessons from this event I’d like to share, you might be conversant with them or seen them somewhere, but I want you to read this with a mental commitment to check yourself. For the beginning and end of everything has to do with how your mind perceives it.

1. Pride delays you and can stifle your progress. It prevents you from being open to learning from others. No man is an island, even if you’re all knowing, there might still be something a supposed foolish person could teach you. Proud people are often unable to admit their wrong and so aren’t able to grow. They believe they’re the best, hence immune to failure and mistakes. But you and I know that is never true. Those who humble themselves set themselves up for greatness. Because they got God on their side. He gives grace to the humble.

2. Pride can make you lose favor with people and also drives them away from you. Nobody likes a stuck up person. Everyone likes being around people who treat them well, whether they’re equals or not. No one enjoys someone rubbing their achievements in their face. Humble people draw people to themselves because of their kindness.

Watch it and check pride before it runs you down and steps all over you.

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About Enam Ami Agbozo

I thrive in these areas: Content Marketing, Business Writing, Blogging, Ghostwriting, Social Media Marketing, Youth Mentoring, Ideas Structuring, Public Speaking, Educational Content Creation.
My joy is to see every individual I come into contact with see life as more than a job, getting money or buying luxury. I enjoy sharing what I've learned with people I meet and also learning from their experiences.